Takes a while for this movie to find its course. Starts as a crime thriller, then turns to comedy, back to crime, with some very soft porn tossed in at random.

The plot has a few holes. For instance, why Yeung Ming Sing becomes the central character. The plot motivator is the location of the missing diamonds in a red cosmetics case, which isn't even Yeung's.

The dashes of nudity deserve some comment. There is an alarming scene early on, when Lo Lieh is frolicking in bed with a pretty-faced young woman. She rolls out of bed, and we see how skinny she is. This is the shock. All the woman's ribs and bones show clearly ! Ugh. Another actress (unnamed) plays a bored whore who appears topless.

When the story finally settles down, Lo Lieh and Stephen Tung make quite a pleasant buddy pair, though the underlying assumption that a gay man who chooses to be a transvestite can be made straight grates a bit.

Though not a great film, it gets to be quite enjoyable in the second half, and this is helped by a top class support cast.

And the choice of background music is excellent. Selections are played from

* Alan Parsons

* Rick Wakeman's 1984 (2 tracks)

* Fripp and Eno's My Life In The Bush With Ghosts

and, perhaps the most often used piece of foreign music in HK film, Vangelis' terrific end theme from Blade Runner.